Automatic Unsubscribe Comes to Gmail

Peter Prestipino

Posted on 8.07.2014

Everyone uses email - from the newbie to the experienced professional. It is a major part of our collective digital lives and by the looks of things it will likely stay that way. That, of course, doesn't mean there isn't some room for improvement.

Google this week announced a way for recipients to quickly unsubscribe from the email communications they don't want. Now, when a sender includes an "unsubscribe" link in their email (in a message designated as promotions, social, or forums - the tabs that made their way to Gmail this year), Gmail will "surface" that link to the top, right next to the sender address. If you're not interested in receiving messages from the sender any more, it's a whole lot easier than scanning a content-dense email for an oft-hidden unsubscribe link.

Believe it or not, this feature is actually a real win for email senders. If (and that's a big "if") email recipients can quickly become familiarized with the feature, senders will likely receive far fewer spam complaints - which over time will result in improved deliverability of their messages on the whole.